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| Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia celebrates after winning in men's swimming 10km marathon, at London 2012 Olympic Games in London, Britain, on August 10, 2012. (Xinhua/Chen Xiaowei) |
TUNIS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia made history by winning the first Olympic swimming marathon at the London Serpentine river on Friday. It was the first time the Tunisian took part in an open water race.
He becomes the first swimmer to claim Olympic titles in both pool and open water competitions. One of the world's best distance swimmers, 28 years old Mellouli confirmed that he remains difficult to beat on long distances.
The Beijing Olympic gold medalist on the 1500m freestyle clocked the 10km race in 1:49:55.1, ahead of Germany's Thomas Lurz (1:49:58.5) and Richard Weinberger of Canada (1:50:00.1).
Mellouli led the pack for most of the race before breaking away some 2km from the finishing line.
The Tunisian swimmer added gold to his Olympic bronze medal on the 1500m last week, bringing Tunisia its 3rd much coveted Olympic medal.
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